1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of positional determination and in particular to an apparatus and method for identifying a current position of a portable terminal by receiving the position information from neighbor terminals of the portable terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the rapid development of portable terminals, a mobile phone providing wireless voice call and data exchange is regarded as personal necessity of life. Conventional portable terminals have generally been regarded as portable devices providing wireless calls. However, along with technical advances and introduction of the wireless Internet, portable terminals are now used for many purposes in addition to telephone call or schedule management. For example, images can be captured by using a digital camera included in a portable terminal. Further, the portable terminal provides a variety of functions such as watching a satellite broadcasting program, performing games, remote controlling using near field communication, a user position tracking, etc.
The user position tracking is a function of identifying a position of a user in an emergency situation by using a portable terminal, and is a great help to save lives by identifying the position of the user in the emergency situation.
A method of identifying the user position by using the portable terminal may be a method of identifying a position of a cell by using position registration information of the portable terminal or a method of measuring a position of the portable terminal by receiving a satellite signal according to a Global Positioning System (GPS) function.
The method of using the position registration information of the portable terminal has merit in that an apparatus for receiving information required for position calculation, such as the satellite signal, does not have to be additionally included. However, this method also has a disadvantage in that the position calculation is not accurate as only cell-unit information using the position registration information can be identified.
To solve the aforementioned problem, the method of measuring the position of the potable terminal by receiving the satellite signal is used to recognize a correct position. However, this method has another problem in that cost of the portable terminal rises since an additional device for receiving the satellite signal is employed.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and method for identifying a current position of a portable terminal not employing an additional device for receiving a satellite signal.